Chennai Peripheral Road

The government will build a 1,420 crore peripheral road that will skirt Chennai and its heavy traffic to connect Mamallapuram in Kancheepuram district and Ennore Port in neighbouring Tiruvallur. The 162-km-long highway will compliment Outer Ring Road that connects Vandalur and Tiruvallur-Ponneri-Panchetti Roadin Minjur. 
 Announcing the Chennai Peripheral Road in a suo motu statement in the assembly, chief minister J Jayalalithaa said the highway will link Singamperumal Koil, Sriperumbudur, Tiruvallur, Thamaraipakkam, Periyapalayam and Puduvoyal and Kattupalli near Ennore Port.  “A detailed report will soon be prepared for the project. New stretches of 83.2km will be built for the road and 78.6km of existing road will be upgraded,” she said.The road,which will come up 30km from Outer Ring Road,will aid container movement to and from Ennore Port. 
Phase I of the Outer Ring Road was conceptualised in 1996, but took shape only in 2010. The road will also help container movement from the southern districts along East Coast Road, 765km of which the state is widening and upgrading between Chennai and Kanyakumari.  With the six-lane Outer Ring Road moving at snail’s pace, heavy vehicular traffic takes a toll on roads, especially Bypass Road that links GST Road near Irumbuliyur and Maduravoyal.  The NHAI-Chennai Port Trust joint initiative was recently put on hold by the state public works department, which wanted course correction of the road along the Cooum.